s long as they do not mutilate the sentence beyond easy
recognition.

REMARKS. The test does not presuppose that the child should have
the ability to make and use sentences like these for purposes of
communication, or even that he should know the meaning of all the words
they contain. Its purpose is to bring out the ability of the child to
repeat a six-syllable series of more or less familiar language sounds.
As every one knows, the normal child of 2 or 3 years is constantly
imitating the speech of those around him and finds this a great source
of delight. Long practice in the semi-mechanical repetition of language
sounds is necessary for the learning of speech cooerdinations and is
therefore an indispensable preliminary to the purposeful use of
language. High-grade idiots and the lowest grade of imbeciles never
acquire much facility in the repetition of language heard. The test gets
at one of the simplest forms of mental integration.

Binet says that children of 3 years _never_ repeat sentences of
ten syllables. This is not strictly true, for six out of nineteen
3-year-olds succeeded in doing so. All the data agree, however, that the
_average_ child of 3 years repeats only six to seven syllables
correctly.

III. ALTERNATIVE TEST: REPEATING THREE DIGITS

PROCEDURE. Use the following digits: 6-4-1, 3-5-2, 8-3-7. Begin with two
digits, as follows: "_Listen; say 4-2_." "_Now, say 6-4-1_." "_Now, say
3-5-2_," etc. Pronounce the digits in a distinct voice and with
perfectly uniform emphasis at a rate just a little faster than one per
second. Two per second, as recommended by Binet, is too rapid.

Young subjects, because of their natural timidity in the presence of
strangers, sometimes refuse to respond to this test. With subjects under
5 or 6 years of age it is sometimes necessary in such cases to re-read
the first series of digits several times in order to secure a response.
The response thus secured, however, is not counted in scoring, the
purpose of the re-reading being merely to break the child's silence. The
second and third series may be read but once. With the digits tests
above year IV the re-reading of a series is never permissible.

SCORING. Passed if the child repeats correctly, _after a single reading,
one series out of the three_ series given. Not only must the correct
digits be given, but the order also must be correct.

REMARKS. Others, on the basis of rather scanty data, have usually
located this te